Nanjing | Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

There are many ways to get a grip on the immensity of any Chinese city. One way to understand the development – besides driving through, seeing from a rooftop or by wandering around – is to head to the local urban planning museum. Typically these spaces exhibit the largest scale-model you ever saw, while the corridors are draped with explanations about planning strategies, new iconic buildings and historical developments.

Nanjing is a city with about 7.4 million inhabitants and the second largest commercial center in the East China region, after Shanghai. The current rush in development – check for example today’s WAN’s news about the 460 acre of Waterfront wonders in Nanjing – is partially fueled by the fact that Nanjing will hosts the second Youth Olympic Games in 2014 [official website]. In February 2010 their winning bid followed a close 47-42 vote among the International Olympic Committee members. This article has a write-up featured shortly after the announcement:

Nanjing will keep its costs down by using existing competition venues. It has 21 facilities, including world-class stadiums built for the China National Games five years ago. The IOC stipulations require a minimum 25 venues. The city also plans to build an Olympic Village on a site 5-min from the downtown core in a green surroundings that will be “agreeable” and “take into full account of our residents”. Its presentation video said Nanjing would have 83,000 hotel rooms by 2014. (…) In an impressive presentation that outlined Nanjing’s bid as a “Reliable, Safe, Risk-Free City”, vice mayor Wang Shouwen told the IOC members that 97% of residents supported the hosting of the Games and with a large student population this would “inspire children to lead healthy lives”.

But back to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, which opened in September 1999. Below some pictures, for more official information – the Hall serves to increase the level of public participation and political transparency and ensures planning to serve the public interest – check out this or that Nanjing Urban Planning-website.